There has been known a nanoimprinting lithography technique (hereinafter simply referred to as nanoimprinting) as a manufacturing technique of a semiconductor integrated circuit. The nanoimprinting is a technique of bringing a template, having formed thereon a pattern of the semiconductor integrated circuit, into contact with a resist material (hardening resin material) applied onto a semiconductor wafer, so as to transfer the pattern formed on the template onto the resist material.
The hardening resin material is dripped from an ejecting unit, such as a dispenser, and applied onto the semiconductor wafer. In order to more precisely transfer the pattern formed into a shape of the template, the dripped amount or dripped position of the hardening resin material is controlled according to the shape and position of the pattern.
During the application of the hardening resin material described above, when the hardening resin material is dripped as being shifted from the intended dripped position, the shift is required to be detected as quickly as possible.